The history of Aston Villa Football Club (I seem to have known for centuries) is like no other football club. And that’s a lot to do with the reason why — at the start of 2006 — I set about researching the club’s earliest days in all the printed matter that I could find. It [...]

With great thanks to John, the series of the exclusive Villa Chronicle’s for this blog are over with the ultimate entry. I do hope though John will hopefully still contribute occasional articles. The start of the season found a re-energised Tony Morley. He had not previously taken on board his manager’s requirement for his players [...]

The first season back in the top-flight was not an easy one for Villa and consolidation was the keyword. In fact, the demands of the top-flight proved to be too great for keeper Jim Cumbes and also Charlie Aitken, who, nevertheless, completed 660 appearances in all first-team matches before his farewell in January, 1976. Not [...]

Ron Saunders admitted that he was impressed with the contingent of players that he found at Villa Park on his arrival. He also has stated that he was limited on how much he could spend without selling, but in fact he did not sell at the start. He did, instead, make a significant signing for [...]

Having acquired such strong players in Graydon, Cumbes, Ross and Nicholl, there was high optimism around Villa Park that return to the First Division was just around the corner. Those signings were then supplemented by striker Alun Evans from Liverpool, a player who had originally made a big name for himself with Wolves and possessed [...]

Financially and in general, matters were very favourable at Villa Park regardless of the fact they were still in Division Three. In fact, the club’s financial success enabled the club to acquire and develop a new training ground in 1972, at Bodymoor Heath. The club had been without such a facility for seven years, and [...]

Financially and in general, matters were very favourable at Villa Park regardless of the fact they were still in Division Three. In fact, the club’s financial success enabled the club to acquire and develop a new training ground in 1972, at Bodymoor Heath. The club had been without such a facility for seven years, and [...]

The arrival of a new manager – which happened to be Tommy Cummings, formerly a star player at Burnley – was of course expected. But the fans were in fact more concerned that the same board was in place. A then very big £78,000 profit had been declared in 1967 (mainly to do with receipts [...]

Early on in the 1966-67 season, with Phil Woosnam having retired to help kick-start soccer in the USA, and with Tony Hateley soon to move on to Chelsea for £100,000, it began to look as though centre-half John Sleeuwenhoek and goalkeeper Colin Withers seemed to be the main players capable of keeping relegation at bay. [...]

Dick Taylor – Joe Mercer’s former assistant – took over the managerial mantle and over the next couple of years there were flashes of hope, but no indication of any development towards the re-instatement of the Villa amongst the elite. Taylor’s third season would prove to be cliffhanger and, as in Mercer’s last days, Taylor [...]